


Getting To Know The Neighbour

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Awesome Molly Hooper, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Comforting molly, Dead People, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt Sherlock, Kind Molly, Molly Is Patient, Molly is a Good Friend, Moving On, Neighbors, POV Sherlock Holmes, Parent Death, Past Irene Adler/Sherlock Holmes, Platonic Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Poor Sherlock, Sherlock Being an Idiot, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Friendship, Sherlock Holmes and Feelings, Sherlock and Molly are neighbors, Sherlock is a Mess, Sherlock-centric, dealing with grief
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6204904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sherlock returns to Oxford after the death of his parents his neighbour introduces herself, and he feels a connection to her. As he navigates the life his father had expected for him, the life he was sure he never wanted, he has to decide if it’s what he really wants, or if it’s something he can walk away from again…this time, maybe, with someone he loves by his side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting To Know The Neighbour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MissClaraOswinOswald](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissClaraOswinOswald/gifts), [Amberowl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberowl/gifts).



> So this is an actual AU for Day 4 of Sherlolly Appreciation Week on Tumblr and another prompt fill for **MissClaraOswinOswald** , who had also asked for a " _brand new neighbours au_ " in the AU meme. This is _also_ a university professor AU because I'm particularly fond of those (and I also started rewatching Inspector Lewis so I have Oxford on the brain all of a sudden). This fic is also gifted to **Amberowl** , who had picked this in the Sherlolly Fic Titlte Acronym grab back in November of last year. I had tried very hard to make this one part, but...well, it just didn't work. I hope you guys don't mind.

He didn’t know what had possessed him to come back to Oxford. He thought he had been done with the place once he had left when he had finished university. He’d gone off to bigger and better things. Well, in the world of academia, there really wasn’t much that was _bigger_ or _better_ than Oxford, he supposed, except possibly Cambridge; the scholars at Oxford looked down their noses at the universities in the States. And the University of California system wasn’t even a _prestigious_ system compared to the likes of Yale or Harvard. But there were revolutionary ideas coming out of the University of California at San Diego’s sciences department and he had been offered a plum position within it and he had taken it. His mother was a fellow at Oxford and she had given her approval and that had been enough for him.

And it had been quite excellent, the last few years. He’d excelled there. He’d kept to himself, he knew that, but his work in the field had been unparalleled and he’d helped impart wisdom on students and perhaps even inspired a few to take up the field of biochemistry. They could use more bright minds in the field. He had hoped his mother would approve. He was sure she had, even if the tiff between him and his father over him not taking a position at Oxford had made it hard to know for sure.

He supposed he wouldn’t know now.

It was strange being in his childhood home again, knowing his parents would never be returning. A drunken driver had struck them head on, killing them instantly. He, of course, had walked away without a scratch. It was typical of the cruel way the universe worked. It was the way his life went, he supposed. He was never to be treated fairly. He glanced down at his ring finger, at the space where the wedding ring had been. That brief mistake had taught him that. He had thought he could trust that the world was good, that the world was fair.

No, it wasn’t. Of course it wasn’t.

The world was a cruel and unforgiving place, and the sooner he remembered that and drilled it into his head, the better.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a knock at the door. He wasn’t expecting company, but he supposed he should have expected it. His mother had been a well-loved woman in the community, and his father…well, he supposed there were people who would want to pay their respects to him as well. His brother couldn’t be bothered to handle all of the details, and he highly doubted he’d bother to come to the funeral, so it would all fall to him, even this aspect. He went to the door of the cottage and then opened it, finding himself looking at a woman almost his own age, holding a rectangular glass baking dish covered in aluminum with smaller plastic containers stacked on top. “Oh! Hello. I’m Molly. Molly Hooper. I, um, live next door. I…um…thought with everything, you wouldn’t be up for cooking, so I made you a casserole, and some other food. Just simple stuff. And I have fresh baked bread in the oven. I thought I’d bring you a loaf when it cooled. It makes three loaves at a time.”

He blinked. This was surprising, but at least it was a pleasant surprise. “Thank you,” he said, moving out of her way. 

She came in, looking as though she was quite at ease with herself as she made a beeline for the kitchen. He simply followed in her wake. “I’m sorry about their passing. You’re the youngest, right? Sherlock?” she asked, turning to look at him before setting everything on the counter.

He nodded. “The disappointment,” he said, a tad sullenly.

“Only to Siger,” she said. Once her arms were free she moved to a collection of cookbooks near the stove, bent over to get a closer look and then pulled one out. “Siger never looked there, but she kept this and would always pull it out to show me when I came over.” She brought it to the table and they both sat down. On the outside it looked like a cookbook, but when Molly opened it up he saw it was a scrapbook of all his achievements. Molly pushed it towards him and he began to flip through it slowly. “I have a lot of publishing contacts in the States, and I used to have them keep an eye out for anything you were mentioned in and they would send it to me. In the attic I know she had a box of all the scientific journals you’re published in.”

He looked over at her. “What exactly do you do?” he asked.

“I’m an editor,” she said with a smile. “I used to be a research scientist, but I left to take care of my mother, and so now I edit scientific papers from home. Mostly I help students with their thesis, but I also work on research papers for professors and things like that. There’s quite a business in that. I also write my own works, since I have an agreement with Oxford University to have access to a laboratory to do my own projects. Now that my mum’s passed I occasionally do peer reviews at the universities here to help students with their work. The university enjoys having a neutral third party when needed and I enjoy the freedom of being able to do whatever kind of work I want to do.”

“What’s your specialty?” he asked.

“Biomedical sciences,” she said.

He nodded before pausing. “I should offer you tea.”

"It’s all right,” she said. “I know my way around this kitchen quite well. You relax and I’ll make us tea.” She got up from her seat and began moving around the kitchen. “I’m sorry Violet’s gone. She was a lovely woman.”

“I suppose. I haven’t seen her since I graduated university,” Sherlock said, going back to the scrapbook. “My father forbade all contact, both ways.”

“I know,” she said. “He was a stubborn arse.”

“Yes, he was,” he said with a nod. He looked over at her. “How did you meet my mother?”

“Gardening, I think?” she said with a smile as she filled the electric kettle with water. “I think that was how we first met. My mother was an avid gardener, and I was helping her putter around in the garden a few years back when she was still able to go outside and they struck up a conversation about the blue tea roses my mother had. Your mother had a black thumb and she asked for some help and my mum volunteered my services.”

Sherlock gave a small smile. “Yes, I noticed my mother had a flourishing rose garden. I had thought she had gotten smart and hired a gardener.”

“No, she simply struck up a friendship with her neighbour’s daughter,” Molly said with a laugh. “But it was nice. With my mother being ill and needing near constant care, I didn’t get out often and had few friends, so it was nice to be able to talk to someone. And I knew she wanted company too. She missed having someone to talk to. Your father…she loved him, she did, but he was a bit overbearing.”

“He wanted perfection, and if you didn’t measure up, then he cut you out,” he said, his voice tight.

Molly stayed quiet for a moment. “I think he was growing to regret pushing you away,” she said. "I would see him linger by the cookbooks, as though he knew that book was there. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew. But…I don’t know.” She took the kettle to the nearest outlet and plugged it in. “I should be trying to take your mind off these things, not making it worse. So let me try something else. Tell me about your life. You live in California, right? I’ve always wanted to live there.”

“Lived,” he said.

She looked surprised. “You won’t be going back?”

He nodded. “When I was told of my mother’s death, the head of her department asked me if I would fill the void left by her passing next term. They were looking for someone to replace her, as she had said she was going to retire, and…well, I was at the top of their candidate list anyway. They said it seemed appropriate. And it pays better, it’s more prestigious.”

“I see,” she said. “So you’ve agreed?”

He nodded. “My term ended in California last week. I need to go back and sort a few things out, but I’ll spend the summer break settling in and next term I’ll be here, heading up the biochemistry department.”

“So…we’ll be neighbours?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“That will be quite interesting,” she said, giving him a warm smile.

He nodded again, giving her one in return. “I think it will be as well.”


End file.
